WASHINGTON — The federal budget deficit has topped $1 trillion for a fourth straight year. But a modest improvement in economic growth helped narrow the gap by $207 billion compared with last year.

The Treasury Department said Friday, Oct. 12, that the deficit for the 2012 budget year totaled $1.1 trillion. Tax revenue rose 6.4 percent from last year to more than $2.4 trillion, helping contain the deficit.

The government’s revenue rose as more people got jobs and received income. Corporations also contributed more tax revenue than in 2011.

Government spending fell 1.7 percent to $3.5 trillion. The decline reflected, in part, less defense spending as U.S. military involvement in Iraq was winding down.

Secret Service agent passed out

MIAMI — In the latest embarrassing spectacle for the Secret Service, one of its officers was found passed out and apparently drunk on a Miami street corner less than 12 hours after President Barack Obama left the city following a day trip to campaign, police in Florida said.

Aaron Francis Engler, an officer with the storied agency’s uniformed division, was not on duty when he was found unresponsive on a sidewalk near a popular nightlife area in Miami about 7 a.m. Friday. Engler was in Miami in a support role for Obama’s trip, which included an afternoon campaign rally at the University of Miami and an evening fundraiser. His exact duties during Obama’s visit were unclear, but he was not part of the president’s personal security detail.

This is the second alcohol-related incident for the agency in the past six months. In April, 13 officers and agents were implicated in a prostitution scandal in Cartagena, Colombia, in advance of Obama’s arrival for a South American summit.

Japan utility admits disaster avoidable

TOKYO — The utility behind Japan’s nuclear disaster acknowledged for the first time Friday that it could have avoided the crisis.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said in a statement that it had known safety improvements were needed before last year’s tsunami triggered three meltdowns, but it had feared the political, economic and legal consequences of implementing them.

“When looking back on the accident, the problem was that preparations were not made in advance,” TEPCO’s internal reform task force, led by company President Naomi Hirose, said in the statement. “Could necessary measures have been taken with previous tsunami evaluations? It was possible to take action” by adopting more extensive safety measures, the task force said.

Scientists looking discovery in the eye

MIAMI — Word that a giant eyeball washed up on a South Florida beach has created a buzz on the Net and in the marine biology community.

The huge, blue eyeball might have come from a deep sea squid or large swordfish, said Heather Bracken-Grissom, an assistant professor in the marine science program at Florida International University in Miami.

A man found the eyeball while taking a morning stroll along Pompano Beach just north of Fort Lauderdale. He contacted state wildlife officials, who took possession of the softball-sized eyeball.

The mystery likely won’t be solved until testing on the eyeball is completed at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute in St. Petersburg.

Blasphemy case cites Pakistani teen

KARACHI, Pakistan — Pakistani police have opened a blasphemy case against a teenage Christian boy accused of sending derogatory text messages about Islam’s prophet to neighbors in the southern city of Karachi, an official said Friday.

The 17-year-old is in hiding along with family members after angry neighbors came to his house Wednesday to inquire about the text messages, said senior police officer Shahid Hayat.

The mob ransacked the family’s home and then lodged a formal complaint against the boy with police, Hayat said.

People convicted of maligning the Prophet Muhammad can be sentenced to death.

Leader’s backers, foes clash in Egypt

CAIRO — Thousands of supporters and opponents of Egypt’s new Islamist president clashed in Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Friday in the first such violence since Mohammed Morsi took office more than three months ago, as liberal and secular activists erupted with anger, accusing the Muslim Brotherhood of trying to take over the country.

The two sides hurled stones and chunks of concrete and beat each other with sticks for several hours, leaving more than 100 injured, according to the state news agency. Two buses used by the Brotherhood to bring in supporters were set aflame behind the Egyptian Museum, the repository of the country’s pharaonic antiquities, and thick black smoke billowed into the sky in scenes reminiscent of last year’s clashes between protesters against the regime of then-leader Hosni Mubarak and his backers.

Vets hope to repair snout of heroic dog

DAVIS, Calif. — A dog that lost its snout while saving two girls in the Philippines has been brought to the University of California, Davis, where veterinarians will try to fix its injuries.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Kabang became a star in the Philippines after it got in front of a speeding motorcycle, saving the dog owner’s young daughter and niece. But the crash took off its snout and upper jaw. Veterinarians in the Philippines were unable to treat the injury.

Tribes get OK to have eagle feathers

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department said Friday it is going to allow members of federally recognized Indian tribes to possess eagle feathers, although that’s a federal crime.

This is a significant religious and cultural issue for many tribes, who were consulted in advance about the policy the department announced.

Under the new Justice Department policy, tribal members will not be prosecuted for wearing or carrying federally protected birds, bird feathers or parts. They also may pick up feathers found in the wild as long as they do not disturb federally protected birds or nests. Giving, lending or trading feathers or bird parts among tribe members, without any other compensation, also will be allowed.

Baby has a number of things to recall

DES MOINES, Iowa — A dream alignment for numerologists has come true in the delivery room of a Des Moines hospital.

The Des Moines Register reports that Laila Fitzgerald weighed 8 pounds, 9 ounces when she was born. She came into the world on Thursday, which, numerically speaking, was 10/11/12. She arrived, militarily speaking, at 1314, or 1:14 p.m. for civilians.

So the numbers associated with her birth are 8-9-10-11-12-13-14.

Laila’s father, 26-year-old Ryan Fitzgerald, told The Register that he would buy a lottery ticket as soon as he left the hospital.

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